Airplane wing construction



Patenta Mysl, 19247.

'UNITD sTATEsPAT Josnrrr E. Gairrm; or sAVANNAH, Gnonom.

Application flled November 19, 1925. 'Serial No. 70,142.

This invention re ates to an airplane Wing f construction.

The object of the inven-tion is to provide an airplane Wing construction vWhereby there is. created a Vrarefaction or approximate vacuum on the upper surface of the'wing and a pressure on the lower surface of the Wing by Virtue of the actual W'ithdraW'al' of air from above the Wing'and the discharge of the Same beneath the Wing With the result that any undesirable eddy currents that may be present are not only prevented from exerting an u'ndesirable reaction on the top' of the Wing but are carried to' below the Wing and aid in the support 'of the same. i The advantages of this action are that itl permits of flying, taking-off, climbing or alighting at slower speeds and With a lesser angle of incidence than iS. possible With machines and Win constructions heretofore proposed. One of thel important points to be noted is that the Wing construction em-` bodying the 'present invention creates the vacuum of the upper surface Without the. necessity of the upper surface being greatly m'asked by the leading edge of the Wing. Accordlngly the present invention provides a 'Wing construction-which -is made up of a number ofv Sections or elements extendao .ving transversely of the Wing and arranged in such manner as to give the assembly of the.section the general contour of the conventional Wing. Each section1 is in the form. of a -miniature vWing having a leading edge and a trailing edge, aconcaved lower surface and a convexed upper surface. Prefv erably the curved upper and lower surfaces. of the Win have theform of a cycloid; In the assemb y of the Sections .the trailing edge. of each section is under though slightly spaced from the leading edge of the next rearWard section Whereb`5r the Wing structure is in' effect Slotte'd in such a manner that the air 'floWing past the under-.surface of the Wing Will entrain the air above the Wing through the slots and cause the air above the Wing to be rarefied, thereby producing a suction or upward lift on the top-'of the by the air beneath the Wing; The entrain- .ing of the ir from above t'he Wing by the -air current below the Wing is enhanced by the concaved formation 'of'the'undersurface of the Wing which effects a compression of the Wing Sections andcontrollin any approved fashion o'r by rigi ly mountthe air in' such manner as to increase its Velocity across theslot or space between the Wing Sections. In order to adapt the Wing structure for high 'speeds provision vmay be made for closing the slots 'or spaces between the Sections of the Wingsand this may be' accomplished 'either aby pivotally mounting them .in

ing the Sections and forming their trailing edges of fiexible portions designed to be held against the leading edges of the Wings by 'means of the pressure Set up below the Wllgs' i a Other objects and advantages res'ide in certain 'novel lfeatures of the construction, arrangement and l`combination of Which ,will w be fhereinafter' more fully described and particularly pointed out in .the appended claims, reference being had to the accompan ing drawin this speci catlon, and 1n Which:- Figure 1 is a' sectional view o f a Wing construction embodying the present invention Figure 2 is a similar view showing slightlyv different form of the invention from t'hat illustrated in F igure 1,

Figure 3 shows another form of the inventio2 and f .t`

1 re Z is a ra entary perspec -ive viewgd f the device shoivi i in Figure 1. v

Referring'to Kthedrawings it Will be Seen Nrr osi-'les I parts gs forming a part of that the airplane Wing construction constituting the `lpresent invention comprises in all embodiments of the invention, asuitable framing, one end bar ofwhich is desig'nated at 1. The framing may have any suitable mounting on or in the airplane construction. The body of the Wing Which is carjried by the frame 1 comprises a plurality of `sections, designated generally at2.

In all embodiments of the invention 'i each section v2 is in the form of -a miniature Wing and has a rounded leading edlge 3 of relatively greater' thiclmess. Rea Wardly from its leading edge 3 each Wing section.2

-gradually reduces or tapers, to a thin'trail- Wing Which augments the pressure exerted ing edge 4. The undersurface of each sec- 45 various Wing sectlons.

so that the trailing edge of one section underlies the leading edge 'of the next rear- Ward section. i'

In the form of the invention shown in Figis. 1 and 4 the trailing edges not only un erlie but are fixed and permanently spaced from the leading edges to define passages or slots 7.

In the form of the inventioh shown in Figure 2 each Wing section is mounted for pivotal movement about an axis 8 which extends through the Wing section adjacent its leading edge and which is mounted on the framing of the Wing. This permits the Wing sections to be adjusted by suitable control means (not shown) to bring the trailing Jedges 4 into engagement with the leading be used .to close the Wing; that is,

edges 3 or into spaced underlying relation With respect thereto. In the last mentioned relation 'the arrangement is substantially like that shown in Figure 1. It is to be understood that while no 'control means are shown for the pivoted Wing Sections of Figure 2 that various types of controls for similar elements as well known in the art and `usually consist of a system of interconnected levers actuated from a suitable controlling element. In the present case the levers may to bring the trailing and leading edges into engagement and the Wing Sections 'may be held in open position normally by means of the Springs or other yieldable elements.

In the form of the invention shown in Figure 8 the trailing edges of the Wing sections occupy substantially the same relation to the leading edges as in Figures 1 and 4 but in addition to the rigid Wing section structure elastic or yieldable portions 10 may be embodied in the trailing edges, such port-ions' 10 being constituted by means of resilient'strips or flaps which by virtue lof their inherent elastlcity and resiliency are' -biased` normally to 'occupy a spaced underlying relation to the leading edges of the However, under the influence of the highi'pressures which are set up under the' wings when flying at high speeds the elastic portions 10 are forced up a ainst the undersurfaces of the leading e ges to provlde a substantially closed Wing x .a structure.

In all embodiments of the invention the Wing constructions speeds a substantially slotted structure Wherein the trailin edgesof the Wing sections underlie the gleading edges define the slotsand this arrangement has the effect of causing the air passing rapidly under the Wing to entrain the air Iin the slots 7. and pull the same out of the slots and from above the Wing to below the Wing, thereby' creating a'rarefaction,7 or approximate vacuum above the Wing and increasing the pressure below action is similar to that of present at normal flying Vtom of the Wing Whereby an aspirator or injectorin that a stream of fluid or air moving at high Velocity' picks up or entrains another body ofvair. This entraining action is enhanced by the contour of the Wing sections. The concaved undersurfacesof the Wings causes the air to bei compressed and the pressure of the air to be raised below the wings and this increased pressure causes the air to floW past the slots or passages 'i' With increased Velocity whereby to increase the entrainingiaotion of such air on the air in the passages and on the air above the Wing. face of the Wing sections which cause the Wing section's to slope doWnWardl toward their trailing edges on their tops ,acilitates the entraining of the air. By drawing the air from above the Wings' to below the Wing in this manner the lifting power of the Wing on the top surface of the Wing because theyare drawn down through the slots 7 and are utilized below the Wing to aid in the lifting thereof. The advantages of this arrangement and action are to permit flying, takin ofl, climbing, or landmg at' sloWer spee s and With a lesser angle of incidence than heretofore possible.v The lifting power of the Wing is increased by the vacuum created above the same Without the necessit of greatly masking the leading edges o the Wing. i

It is to each Wing section formed with curved upper and lower surfaces after the manner of a cycloid but the general assembly or Wing' as a whole has upper' and lower cycloidal surfaces.

I claim:-

1. An airplane Wing lconstruction made up ofl a plurality of Sections, each section having a relatively thick and blunt leading' `edge and having its upper thereof, the tapering upper surfaces, and the A leading edges adj acent' Wings co-acting to vdefine a1r passages extending through the Win construction said air assa es bein relatively Wide and of relatively great area at-the top of the wingland gradually narrowing to a thin slit-like opening at the botwhen the Wing travels throu h the air, a1r will be Withdrawn from a ove the Wing and discharged' The convexed upper surbe understood that not only is beneath the same to create ararefaction above the upper surfa'e of the Wing and a presslire on the lower surface thereof and to elimmate eddy eurrents.

2. An airplane Wmg construction-dn acordance With ,claim 1 and wherein the trailmg edges of all of the Sections except the last rearward sections are elastic so as to be normally spaced from the leading edges 5 but enageable with said leading edges when t eipressnre thereon exceeds a predetermined degree.

3.v An alrplane'wing construction in accordance with c1ain`i11 and wherein the undersurfaces of each section =are concaved.

4. -An' airplanev Wing construction in accordance With vclaimvl and wherein each Wing section curves downwardly and I'earwardly With respect to; the next forward section.

JOSEPH E. GRIFFIN. 

